Chromecast Audio devices playing out of sync? Here's your fix!

One of the best features of the Chromecast Audio is being able to put multiple units together into an audio group so they all play the same thing at the same time no matter where they are in your house. This is also something that can be dramatically affected by latency, so you need an easy way to get everything in sync.

We've seen it ourselves and so have plenty of others. This is because so many things can introduce latency — when a signal takes longer than expected to go from point A to point B — in a Chromecast setup. Not everything connects to the internet at exactly the same speeds, the location in your house can mean slower network data, and every speaker and the wires that connect it have their own built-in latency. And it doesn't take much of it to make things sound off. Luckily, there's an easy and completely non-technical way to fix it in your Chromecast Audio group.

Open the Google Home app and find the affected unit in the Chromecast Devices.

Tap the Settings icon (three dots) in the upper right corner.

In the Advanced section, tap the Group delay correction setting.

Adjust the slider until things sound "right" to you.

It sounds too easy to be true, but this works great. Sometimes, doing things "by ear" is the best way and this is one of those times. Numbers and widgets and meters can be fun, but in the end, all we want is for it to sound good to our ears.

It's important to not adjust things until you know you have a problem and to make sure you're adjusting the right thing. Momentary internet and network lag happen, and while there is a buffer to prevent it from causing an issue it can still happen. And adjusting the internal timing of a Chromecast Audio isn't going to be able to fix network or connectivity problems. But if you notice a delay often and are sure everything else is good to go, here's your fix.

Reader comments

Chromecast Audio devices playing out of sync? Here's your fix!

Can anyone here reading this article say their Chromecast audios work well?

From any and all Android devices I stream from to.multiple or single Chromecast audios, I lose control of the stream.within just a few minutes of staring it. Only way to regain it s to stop the stream and start it again, but then you're back to square one.

As strange as it is, it works flawlessly on iOS devices.

Was hoping this article was addressing that :-( Not sure what the point of correcting out of sync audio groups if you can't even control the stream at all.

it doesn't work right, unfortunately if the speaker you are using or even the medium of connection is different then your playback could be out of sequence. For example I had a chromecast sound connected via the 3.55mm jack to an old boom box, and another setup to a UE boom. Of course they played out of sync, two totally different speakers. I tried using the app to adjust the delay but it was just two great, everything came in with an echo.....the worst. My solution was to abandon chrome cast sound altogether and move to wifi audio